Anthony Richardson, a quarterback for the University of Florida, is separating himself from the nation’s ongoing discussion about guns by dropping the moniker “AR-15” and the crosshairs logo from his clothing line.
Richardson launched his own clothing line that featured his initials and jersey number: 15 in response to the NCAA’s decision last year to permit college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness.
Naturally, “AR-15” also refers to the widely criticized semi-automatic rifle made by ArmaLite, which was used in the 2012 shooting at Sand Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the shooting in May at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which was only four and a half hours from the Gainesville campus of the University of Florida.
The state was also the scene of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, which claimed 49 lives and was one of the worst mass murders in US history.
Although a nickname is just that, Richardson said in a statement, “It is important to me that my name and brand are no longer associated with the assault rifle that has been used in mass shootings, which I do not condone in any way or form.”
“AR-15” was simply a representation of my initials combined with my jersey number.
“My representatives and I are currently working on rebranding, which includes the development of a new logo and the change from using “AR” and my name, Anthony Richardson, to just “AR.”
Gainesville native Richardson, who received numerous recruiting offers after high school, chose to enroll at Florida rather than go far from home.
Since then, he has played in seven games and rushed for three touchdowns in addition to six touchdowns and six interceptions.
He is not the first athlete to use a nickname that alludes to a gun with his initials and jersey number.
The nickname “AK-47” was given to former Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko because of his initials, his jersey’s number, 47, and the fact that he is from Izhevsk, Russia, the birthplace of the Avtomat Kalashnikovan rifle.
For many years, Kirilenko accepted the moniker, which seemed appropriate for someone who was at the time regarded as one of the NBA’s top defensive players. In 2015, as his basketball career was coming to an end, the local government even gave him a model AK-47 as a gift.
But Kirilenko’s moniker also caused some awkward situations in his professional life.
His nickname was printed on the back of his jersey as part of a promotion the Nets ran in 2014 while he was a player in Brooklyn.
But Kirilenko and the Nets decided to use “ириленкo,” his Russian name written in the Cyrillic alphabet, instead of the AK-47.